Review A People’s History Of Iraq, The Iraqi Communist Party, Workers’ Movements, and the Left 1924-2004

Salucci, Ilario, A People’s History Of Iraq, The Iraqi Communist Party, Workers’ Movements, and the Left 1924-2004, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2005

 

Ilario Salucci wrote a very short and concise history of the Communists in Iraq. The Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) used to be the largest in the country, leading protests and being one of the main opposition groups. However it consistently undermined itself following Soviet doctrine and policy. The author documents how the Communists constantly subordinated themselves to other groups believing that a nationalist bourgeoise and capitalism had to develop before socialism could be established. The party therefore faced defeat after defeat at its own hands.

Review Republican ‘Iraq, A Study in ‘Iraqi Politics since the Revolution of 1958

Khadduri, Majid, Republican ‘Iraq, A Study in ‘Iraqi Politics since the Revolution of 1958, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1969

 

Majid Khadduri was one of the first prominent Iraqi historians writing in English. He was born in Iraq and then came to work at Johns Hopkins University. Starting with his 1960 Independent Iraq he published books on the country covering the monarchy up to the Gulf War. His early histories were indispensable because he had access to many of the people involved in events. Republican ‘Iraq, A Study in ‘Iraqi Politics since the Revolution of 1958 covers the “revolutionary regimes” of General Qasim, the Baath and the Arif brothers that ruled from 1958 to 1968. Khadduri’s thesis was that the military stepped into politics to overthrow the old regime and created an autocratic form of government.

Review Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship

Farouk-Sluglett, Marion and Sluglett, Peter, Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2003

 

Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship by Marion Farouk-Sluglett and Peter Sluglett is one of the seminal Iraqi History books in English. It covers the history of Iraq from the monarchy to Saddam Hussein’s rule in the 1990s. The Slugletts main focus is on the governments that came after the 1958 coup and how they struggled to stay in power because they lacked a popular base.

Review Iraq & the Kurdish Question, 1958-1970

Jawad, Sa’ad, Iraq & the Kurdish Question, 1958-1970, London: Ithaca Press London, 1981

 

Iraq & the Kurdish Question, 1958-1970 by Sa’ad Jawad is a very good breakdown of the politics surrounding the Kurdish movement. It has several major themes. The first is the divisions within the Iraqi Kurds between the tribal leaders and the intellectuals. The latter in the form of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) tried but failed to provide leadership. The former were able to maintain their power and their feudal systems as a result. The second was how successive Iraqi governments never came to a compromise with the Kurds over their demands for autonomy. The third was how foreign powers, especially Iran was able to dominate the movement militarily and economically.

Review Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan

Schmidt, Dana Adams, Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan, New York: Grove Press, 2018

 

Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan was written by New York Times reporter Dana Adams Schmidt. It was based upon the author’s three month trip into Iraqi Kurdistan in 1962 with follow up visits in 1963. While there Schmidt got to interview the Kurdish leader Mullah Mustafa Barzani several times and was impressed by his determination while also noting some of his faults. Schmidt was taken in by his Kurdish guests and gushed about their hospitality and culture. That led him to exaggerate their fighting prowess sometimes, but again remarked on how the struggle with the Iraqi government was stalemated although the author hoped that Barzani would eventually prevail.

Review The Making of Iraq 1900-1963, Capital, Power and Ideology

Haj, Samira, The Making of Iraq 1900-1963, Capital, Power and Ideology, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997

 

The Making of Iraq 1900-1963, Capital, Power and Ideology is a detailed academic book on how the development of Iraq’s economy under the Ottomans and then the British created a political system that would eventually bring down both the monarchy and General Abd al-Karim Qasim’s government. The author Samira Haj argues that the agriculture system dominated by large estates distorted the economy and limited the government which created conditions for a coup in 1958 led by General Qasim. The forces that backed him would eventually split over ideology and class and led to his demise as well. Haj emphasizes that internal dynamics rather than foreign influence or international capitalism led to these changes

This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 8 1963 Coup by military and Baath against Gen Qasim

Review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam

Review Franzen, Johan, Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam, New York: Columbia University Press, 2011

The Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) returned to the news when in May 2018 it helped Moqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon list win the most seats in Iraq’s parliamentary elections. Before that the group had been organizing demonstrations over the lack of services, corruption, and poor governance. This harkened back to the party’s long history of opposition politics during the monarchy when it led two large protest movements. Johan Franzen in Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam is a history of the party from its start in the 1930s when Iraqi politics were shifting from individual based parties to ones focused around ideology, through its opposition to English imperialism, and then its sudden decision to back a series of governments brought about by coups starting with the Qasim government through the Arif brothers and up to the Baathists. Franzen’s thesis is that the ICP’s adherence to Communist ideology, and especially pronouncements by the Soviets, led to its own undoing as it aligned itself with Iraqi regimes that were intent on co-opting it and then destroying its cadres.

AP VIDEO: LIBRARY FOOTAGE OF THE IRAQI COUP D'ETAT OF FEBRUARY 1963

UNIVERSAL INTERNATIONAL NEWS VIDEO: Iraqi Revolt

PATHE VIDEO: Revolt In Iraq 1963

VIDEO: President Abdul Salam Arif